


Gonna Get You Drunk

by Tiger_girl



Category: Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 05:25:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11776401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiger_girl/pseuds/Tiger_girl
Summary: Kaylee decides to get Chase drunk and find out if he has feelings for Riley...





	1. Getting Drunk

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on advice I was given before going to university, I have never used the advice as it always felt wrong to me. However, I thought it would be interesting to use it as a basis of a story about violation of trust.

Kaylee and Chase were out on a date; she had known about his secret identity as the Black Ranger for a few weeks now and had hung out with the other rangers a few times as well. Tonight, though, it was just the two of them; round at her place and she had a plan.  
After Chase had made her the spaceship trophy she had told her mom about him, they’d chatted about his looks, his likes and dislikes and then her mom had said, “Make sure you get him drunk before this gets serious.”  
Kaylee had been rather shocked, “Why would I want to get him drunk?”  
“To find out what he’s really like. When people get drunk their true self comes out and you will know if there’s a future in the relationship.”  
By this time Kaylee knew he was the Black Ranger though she couldn’t tell her mom, so she wasn’t worried about him being mean or nasty. She knew he couldn’t be, so she ignored her mom’s advice.  
But then she started hanging out more with the other rangers and saw how he and Riley were together and started to wonder if their friendship was more than friendship. They were so openly affectionate with each other, arms round each other’s shoulders, hugs on a regular basis – quite quick hugs - but Chase touched Riley far more than he touched any other ranger even the overly affectionate Koda. She liked Koda, he treated her like family, she could quite easily see him as the big brother she had never had.  
But back to Chase and Riley, she didn’t think that anything was going on but still… she had a niggling doubt. So tonight, she was going to make a test of her boyfriend of two months and get him drunk; she’d made quite a big thing of this date to him and the rangers and had managed to get Miss Morgan to give him the night off. After all there were 9 rangers now, ok Tyler’s dad and Prince Phillip weren’t around too much but 6 rangers should be able to handle most things.   
Her apartment was spotless for once, she had done her hair and make-up and dinner was ordered, now all she needed was Chase. He was bang on time for once, 7pm on the dot he rang the bell.  
“Hi beautiful.” He said with a huge grin, leaning in to kiss her cheek.  
She moved to the side slightly to give him room to come in and waved him into the sitting room.  
She had set up a table for dinner complete with candlesticks, matching china and champagne flutes.   
“Woah!” said Chase, “You’ve gone all out, this looks great. What are we having?”  
She smiled, “I ordered from the French place down by the beach and we’ve got some sparkling wine to go with it.”  
Just then the door went again, it was the food. A few minutes passed as they plated up and she poured them each a glass of wine.  
They sat down and Kaylee lifted her glass, “To us.” she said with a smile.  
Chase grinned and copied the gesture, “To us.” he repeated. They both took a sip, Chase smiled, “Ooo that’s quite fruity. I’ve not had wine much before.” He took a bigger swallow and put the glass down to be able to try the food. As they ate they chatted about various things; Kaylee’s application to the Space Academy, a new trick Chase was trying to get right at the skate park whenever he had a moment, the latest monster the rangers had been fighting and all the time Chase was slowly drinking the wine. Kaylee had a few more sips, but she was keeping Chase’s glass topped up and he was starting to drink more quickly as the alcohol took hold.  
The food was lovely and they enjoyed what they ate; at the end of the main course Chase picked up the plates and took them out to the kitchen. Kaylee poured the rest of her wine into his glass while he wasn’t looking and then followed to take the dessert out of the fridge, he’d managed to get the plates safely into her dishwasher but was quite giggly so she quite easily sent him back to the table while she dished up the dessert – a lovely lemon meringue pie. She took the plates out to the table and took her seat noticing as she did so that he had drunk half the glass full in front of him.  
The pie was delicious and he was soon trying to feed her little bits from his fork, he kept missing and then giggling a lot. “Shall we leave the plates and move to the couch?” Kaylee asked, “I’ve got the new Spiderman film, I thought we could watch it together.”  
Chase grinned, “Sounds great.” They settled down on the couch to watch and Kaylee grabbed Chase a beer, he took it without complaint and drank it as they watched the film. By the time the film had finished Chase had drank three more beers and was very very drunk. Kaylee decided it was now or never, “Chase.”   
“Mmmm?” Chase sounded as if he was losing the ability to speak properly, Kaylee hoped she hadn’t waited too long.  
“How do you feel about Riley?” she wasn’t certain it was the best question, but it was a place to start. He peered at her, confusion written across his features, “Wha? Riley’s ma best mate.”  
“Well I know that, but I just wondered if you’d ever thought about him as more than a best… mate.” she hoped she wasn’t being too obvious, but then again, he was very drunk.  
“Oh, you mean… you mean. Do you mean, what do you mean?” Chase was clearly struggling to understand where she was coming from and for a moment Kaylee almost left it alone. But… it was like a scab, difficult not to pick.  
“I mean, have you ever thought about kissing him?” that was blatant enough and hopefully without judgement – fingers crossed.  
A look of amazement crossed Chase’s face, “How… how did you know that?” he blurted, “I never told anyone.”  
Kaylee was stumped; her niggling doubt was true so now what. “So, you’ve never actually kissed him?”  
Chase appeared to be sobering up slightly and was looking a bit worried, “No, I didn’t know how he felt and I didn’t want to risk our friendship.” he paused, looking dreamy for a moment, “I’d love to know if he felt the same, the same though.” He wriggled on the couch getting more comfortable and then was suddenly snoring as the alcohol got the better of him. Kaylee sat facing him on the couch for almost an hour her mind racing; he wanted to kiss Riley, he said so himself, it sounded like he still wanted to kiss Riley despite his relationship with her, Chase wanted to kiss Riley, why had she wanted to know? She took a deep breath and answered her own question, “I had to know if we had a future. Now I know we don’t.” she stood up and grabbed the plates, popping them into the dishwasher then walked back into the sitting room and looked at her (ex) boyfriend. “I suppose I’d better get you a blanket.” She sighed and went to grab one from her bedroom, after draping it over Chase’s slumbering form she added a large basin next to him just in case.  
She shook her head as she headed to her bedroom, “How am I going to tell him? I bet he doesn’t remember. Oh, I’ll sleep on it and see what I can come up with in the morning.”  
When Kaylee woke up the next morning it was bright and sunny outside and did not match her mood. She pulled herself out of bed and took a shower, Chase was either still asleep or had snuck out she was rather hoping for the latter. After getting dressed she went into the sitting room and found the blanket had been carefully folded up and placed on the couch, there was the lovely smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen. Kaylee frowned, did Chase not remember what he’d told her last night? Or was he trying to make it up to her? Only one way to find out. She took a deep breath and went into the kitchen.  
“Mornin’ beautiful.” Chase grinned happily at her, no sign of remorse and no sign of a hangover. On her griddle, a batch of pancakes were almost done.  
“Good morning Chase. Are you ok?”  
“I’m great. Why?”  
“You got quite drunk last night, I thought you might have a hangover.” she said tentatively.  
“Yeah sorry about that. I’d not drunk wine before and it has a stronger kick than I was expecting.” He turned from dishing up the pancakes with a worried look on his face, “I didn’t do anything I shouldn’t have did I?”  
Kaylee considered her options, he clearly didn’t remember much of last night and he hadn’t done anything wrong but he probably should know what he’d told her. “No, but you did tell me something you might not have wanted to tell me. Let’s go sit in the other room and we can talk while we eat.”  
Chase looked even more worried but followed with the plates and put them on the table were Kaylee had already sat down. “What did I tell you?”  
She took a deep breath, “That you want to kiss Riley.” She cut up one of her pancakes and took a bite, it was delicious.  
For his part, he was staring at her with his mouth hanging open, “I… I told you that?”  
“Mmm.” Kaylee took another bite.  
“Why… why… why on earth would I do that?”  
She winced, “Because I gave you too much to drink and then asked you.” She took a deep breath and continued, “I’ve been noticing the way you two are round each other and I decided to ask you, I wanted to know if I was right.”  
“Oh God!” Chase dropped his fork and put his head in his hands, “Kaylee I’m so sorry, I wasn’t going to tell you, I... I… I...”  
She put her hand on his arm, “You didn’t think he felt the same way so instead of asking him (and risking your friendship) you decided to go out with me instead.”  
“Kaylee, it wasn’t like that.” he stood up and started pacing, “I really like you.”  
“But your feelings for Riley are stronger, I got the feeling that you still want him.” she took a deep breath, “Chase I know you didn’t want or mean to hurt me, but if you feel strongly about Riley then we don’t have a future.”  
He stopped pacing and looked at her, stricken, “No Kaylee, I want you in my life.”  
“But how? I can’t ask you to stop seeing Riley. You’re both rangers.”  
“I’ll… I’ll break my bond with my energem. Then I won’t be a ranger anymore.”  
Kaylee blinked at him, “You’d do that for me?”  
“I want us to be together.”  
“What if Riley asked you out? Or kissed you? Or begged you to stay?” Kaylee knew she was right, “Do you think leaving the rangers would stop your feelings for him?”  
Chase sank on to the couch, hands covering his face. “No.” he whispered, his voice further muffled because of his hands.   
“And that’s why we’ve got to end it. I don’t want to be second choice.” she said gently, moving to sit next to him and putting her hand on his shoulder.  
He looked up at her, his distress written across his face, “You don’t deserve to be anyone’s second choice. I’m so sorry, I should never have asked you out. I just thought…” he paused, “I just thought that if I found someone I really cared for then my feelings for Riley would go away.” He hid his face in his hands again.  
“I get it.” She looked at him, “Do you not want to feel this way about him?” she asked curiously.  
He looked up at her, his mouth opened but nothing came out. He looked away again and then back at her, “I’ve never fancied a bloke before. It’s scary you know.”  
“You are one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. You just need to talk to him, that’s all.” She kissed him gently on the cheek, “We’ll still be friends you know. I’ve always wanted a big brother, you can check out all my dates for me.” She smiled, “Right now I’m going to finish up those pancakes and then I’ve got to get to school.”  
Chase had raised his head, he was still tearful but he smiled as she talked of wanting a big brother and allowed himself to be pulled over to the table though he ate very little. Fifteen minutes later Kaylee wished him goodbye from outside her apartment block and went on her way. He stood there for a long time and then started trudging towards the museum, skateboard in hand, wondering how on earth he was going to explain their breakup to the others.


	2. Sobering Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase is sober and upset, Shelby takes charge of him, then manoeuvres Riley into a comforting role. Lots of tears and talking - one little kiss.

When he finally reached the Dino Bite café he was still very uncertain of what he was going to say to the other rangers, Riley in particular, and uncertain of how he was feeling. Upset was certainly a word he could use, unsettled was another, guilty that he’d used Kaylee (though he had genuinely cared about her and had hoped things would develop so that he would stop thinking about Riley) and (he realised) cross with Riley for not noticing how he, Chase, felt about him.  
He was also starting to get a headache, a hangover he suspected, which was making him feel even more miserable and as he walked into the café he knew immediately that he was late for his shift, very late.  
“Chase!” said an exasperated Shelby, appearing at his side as if by magic, “Miss Morgan gave you last night off, not this morning as well! Where have you been?” Then she got a good look at his face as he tried to make some sort of coherent sound come out of his mouth. “Oh my… what’s happened? Is Kaylee alright? Has something happened to Chloe? Your mom?” Chase shook his head as the tears started to fall again, he was aware that Shelby was pulling him over to an empty booth and urging him to sit down. She sat opposite him and grabbed his hand, “Chase it’s ok. Take your time. What’s happened?”  
Chase took a deep breath, but lost control again as Shelby stroked his arm in a soothing manner she sat there quietly with him for several minutes until he finally managed to get it together enough to speak. “Kaylee broke up with me.” he said brokenly, “And it’s all my fault.”  
Shelby looked as if she simply couldn’t believe it, “But… but you were getting along so well. I thought you really liked her, I thought you were falling in love with her.”  
Chase shook his head, “She was suspicious about my feelings for someone else” he gulped a breath, “so last night she got me drunk and asked me, she was right I… I do have feelings for someone else. I wasn’t going to do anything about them but she decided that those feelings meant we couldn’t have a future.”  
Shelby looked shocked, then horrified but to Chase’s everlasting surprise she carried on holding his hand and stroking his arm, “She got you drunk? Deliberately?” she asked, anger colouring every syllable as she spoke.  
“Yeah.” Chase hadn’t had a moment to think about that aspect of it and right now he wasn’t thinking clearly enough to figure out why Shelby might be angry about it.  
Shelby started patting his arm rather than stroking it, “Ok, ok, ok” she was clearly considering the situation and the options available, “right you are clearly not in a fit state to be up here today. So, this is what we’re going to do, I’m going to take you downstairs to the base, you are going to get some sleep and then we’ll go from there.”  
“Shelby.” He grabbed her hand as she went to stand up, “please don’t tell the others, I… I don’t think I could cope with them knowing just yet.”  
“Chase, I’m going to have to tell them something. They’re all in the kitchen, it’s only that I got to you first that you aren’t sitting here with one of them. We’re your family, no-one’s going to judge you, her on the other hand…” she frowned, clearly unhappy with Kaylee though Chase still didn’t understand why, “Come on.” She pulled him to his feet and lead him downstairs into the base, going through the kitchen as the quickest route. Koda, Ivan, Riley and Tyler were all still in there and moved to check on him as soon as he was through the door, looks of concern on all their faces. Shelby waved them off with, “Later guys. He needs some sleep.” A couple of moments later and they were in the base; Miss Morgan looked up from the laptop, her mouth open to scold Chase as they came in and shut it again with a snap when she saw the state he was in. They had some emergency cots in one of the caves (not Koda’s) for when it was too late to bother going home to sleep, Shelby led Chase to the nearest one, helped him take his shoes off and got him to lay down. She knelt down by the side of him and stroked his back gently, he was aware that Kendall… Miss Morgan was also watching him. Surrounded by love and acceptance and exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster he’d just travelled on he fell sound asleep.  
As Chase’s breathing evened out, Shelby stood up slowly she looked at Miss Morgan and shook her head and then nodded towards the main cave. The two women left quietly, “I don’t want to leave him on his own.” Shelby said quietly when they were over the other side of the cave, Miss Morgan frowned, “What happened to get him in this state?” she asked.  
Shelby told her as briefly as possible, Kendall was just as shocked as Shelby was, “She deliberately got him drunk?!?”  
“That’s what he told me. Chase doesn’t tell lies.”  
“Oh My God. If he’d done that to her…” Kendall threw her hands up and started pacing.  
“The worst of it is, I don’t think he thinks that she’s done anything wrong. I think he thought I’d be cross with him for having feelings for more than one person at a time.” Shelby sighed and lent back against the wall of the cave. Kendall turned to face her and said, “I really want to go and have words with that… that GIRL! Make her realise how far out of line her behaviour was last night. I mean, really, where would she get such an idea from!”  
Shelby held up her hands, “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”  
Kendall resumed her pacing, “Do we know who he’s got feelings for?”  
“Other than Kaylee? No… though me and Tyler did wonder a while back if…” she stopped speaking looking genuinely uncomfortable.  
Kendall jumped to a very uncomfortable thought, “Not me?” she asked with a slight squeak in her voice.  
“No. No we thought there might be something developing between him and Riley. But then he went back to New Zealand and met Kaylee so we figured they were just good friends.” She paused and smiled, “Family.”  
“We can’t ask him at the moment, he’s far too upset.”  
Shelby nodded her agreement, “We could put Riley on Chase watch and see if Chase says anything.”  
“Do we tell Riley our suspicions?”  
“I’d say no, just in case we’re wrong and it is you…” she smiled broadly before continuing, “or Ivan or someone we don’t know about.” She smiled more broadly as she noticed her mentor’s faint blush at the mention of Ivan’s name. ‘Ah ha.’ She thought, ‘I knew it!’  
Miss Morgan nodded and pulled out her dino com to call the guys down to the base making sure Chase’s was not included in the call.  
When they arrived, and had been given the basic story – Kaylee had gotten Chase drunk, extracted some information out of him and then dumped him – they were understandably rather upset.   
“How could she behave in such a way, I thought she was a lady.” Ivan was openly shocked about Kaylee’s behaviour.  
Koda, it turned out, didn’t know anything about alcohol or getting drunk and therefore didn’t really understand the whole story. However, he had seen the state Chase was in which made him worry for a man he saw as his brother and on seeing everyone else’s reaction to the story was feeling angry while at the same time protective. Tyler was cross, but he also didn’t want Koda searching round town to shout at Kaylee so took him back upstairs snagging Ivan as he went, that left Riley with Kendall and Shelby. They exchanged glances perfect.   
Riley wasn’t looking happy; his usually perfectly styled hair was rather messed up as he kept running his fingers through it in a distracted manner. “I can’t believe she’d do this to him.” He half shouted and was immediately shushed by both women. “Sorry, but I can’t.” he said more quietly, “I thought she cared about him.”  
“So did we.” Said Kendall glancing again at Shelby, “Look I really need another level head upstairs if only to keep everyone in the café and someone needs to sit with Chase so that he’s not alone when he wakes up.”  
“I’ll sit with him.” said Riley instantly, “I don’t think I’d be much good upstairs, I want to go shout at her right now.”  
“I understand exactly how you feel,” Kendall reassured him, “But we need to keep a level head in this, Chase has to be able to function as a ranger. It might sound unfeeling but if he can’t then he’s in danger and it puts us all in more danger than normal.”  
Riley nodded as Shelby took herself upstairs to the Dino Bite, “Yeah I know. I’ll see if I can get him back to a bit more like his usual self when he wakes up.”  
Kendall nodded encouragingly at him, patted his shoulder and went back to her work, Riley sighed and went into the ‘sleeping cave’ snagging a chair as he went.   
Chase slept for another two hours, they were lucky Heckle had clearly decided to take the morning off. At first Riley was seething with anger at Kaylee, how could she get him deliberately drunk like that? It didn’t matter to Riley what she wanted to know, by getting Chase to tell her that way she had essentially violated him. It was an abuse of trust, though Shelby had already made it clear that Chase hadn’t realised that yet, when he did he would be even more upset. Then he got to thinking about what information she had found out that would make her dump him, ‘Maybe, he likes another girl and she noticed. That’s plausible, very plausible knowing Chase. Though I haven’t seen him with any other girls recently.’ His thoughts ran in circles for a time and then he started watching Chase sleep, watching his chest rise and fall, watching his face – distressed even as he slept – and thinking how much Chase needed a cold cloth right now, he picked up a limp hand and held it gently stroking the back of it. ‘I wonder how his hand would feel stroking my back.’ He put Chase’s hand back down gently on the bed, ‘Get a grip Riley. You got over this months ago when he went back to New Zealand and then again when he met Kaylee. He’s not interested.’ He took a deep breath and continued to watch Chase sleep.  
A little while later he realised that he was holding Chase’s hand again, this time he decided to just hold on, he could let go when Chase started to wake up. This way at least he felt like he was doing something comforting for Chase, he stroked the back of the hand it was warm and dry and the skin was very smooth. He started to stare at it, almost involuntarily as he took in the contours of the long fingers, the perfectly shaped nails. How long he stared at that hand and how long he stroked it he didn’t know, but he was interrupted from his meditation by Chase’s voice, “Riley?”  
He almost dropped Chase’s hand like a hot rock before getting a look at Chase’s face, he looked so vulnerable, lost almost. “Y… y… yes.” He stuttered, he got a grip on both the hand he held and himself, “Hey Hotshot, how’re you feeling?” he said quietly.  
“Like I’ve been hit by a steam train.” Chase seemed hypnotised by their joined hands, Riley felt hope rising inside him. Then Chase spoke again, “What did Shelby tell you?”  
“Just that Kaylee got you drunk, got you to tell her something and then broke up with you. She wouldn’t tell us anything else.” Riley paused, “Do you want to tell me the rest? You don’t have to.”   
Chase pulled his hand away from Riley’s grip, leaving him feeling bereft and rolled over so he was facing the wall of the cave. “Chase?” Riley sounded bewildered.  
Chase squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that he had no choice but to say something, anything, it didn’t have to be the whole truth. But his mouth betrayed him “I told her I have feelings for… for you mate.” Silence for at least a minute; Chase squeezed his eyes tighter feeling the tears starting to fall again then he heard Riley’s chair scrape as he stood up. Chase thought, ‘He’s leaving, he doesn’t know how to handle this so he’s leaving me.’ Then he felt a hand on his face, stroking his cheek tenderly, “Oh Hotshot. What did you think I was going to say?” Riley didn’t give him a chance to answer, just lent forward as Chase’s eyes flew open and kissed him gently on the lips, eyes open boring down into his soul.  
When Riley broke the kiss, and pulled back again Chase actually forgot to breathe, only remembering when he started seeing black dots in front of his eyes. ‘Riley kissed me. He kissed me. He kissed me.’ He thought over and over again, taking a deep breath and then another until Riley spoke again, “Come on let’s sit you up.” He helped Chase to sit up slowly, “Ok now stay there while I get a cold cloth for your face. You’re all blotchy and your eyes look really sore.” Chase nodded as Riley gave his hand a squeeze and left the cave, was this really happening? Or was he still asleep? He really didn’t know, he felt like everything he thought he knew had been turned upside down and inside out.  
A moment later and Riley was back with the promised cold cloth and gently wiped Chase’s face and blotted his eyes. “You realise Kaylee’s in a lot of trouble with everyone?” Riley’s voice was like steel as he squatted down in front Chase, one hand holding his and the other cupping Chase’s face.   
“Why?” Chase asked, bewildered, “I’m the one who’s been hiding my feelings from her.”  
“Oh Chase, you weren’t lying about your feelings for her. Maybe you exaggerated them a little, you didn’t tell her about me because you didn’t want her to get hurt. But she, she… Kaylee put you in a position where you were vulnerable and she did it deliberately to find out something to use against you. That’s a violation of trust.” Riley’s voice had started off gentle, but was back to sounding like steel now.  
“Does everyone know?”  
“About what?” Riley asked, Chase replied by moving his free hand to point at each of them in turn. “No, Shelby didn’t tell us, just said that Kaylee got some information out of you that led her to breaking up with you. She’s upstairs right now making sure that the other guys don’t take off after her to give her a piece of their mind. Ivan’s horrified at her behaviour, I’m not sure if Koda really understands what she’s done but you know how protective he gets.”  
Chase nodded, trying to gather his scattered wits. “I didn’t tell Shelby.” he said suddenly, “I didn’t tell her that the person I had feelings for was you.”  
Riley bit his lip, “Truth time?” Chase nodded and Riley continued, “I almost asked you out before you went back to New Zealand. I didn’t because I wasn’t certain I was reading the signals right and I didn’t want to make things uncomfortable between us.” A chuckle escaped his lips, “We’d only just got on an even keel after all.”  
Chase smiled, they hadn’t got on too well when Riley had first become a ranger and if he was honest part of the reason was that he had found Riley really attractive but hadn’t known how to deal with being attracted to a bloke. His reaction was to try and push him away and then pull him closer before he got too far away, totally irrational but it had made sense at the time.  
Riley was continuing, “Then when we got back after Ice Age, you were chasing girls so much and then you met Kaylee that I figured I’d got it wrong. I tried to forget about it. Then Shelby and Miss Morgan asked me to sit with you and you said... you had feelings for me…”  
“They asked you?” Chase interrupted him.  
Riley looked thoughtful for a moment, “Well sort of. Tyler had taken Ivan and Koda back upstairs and then, I was a bit cross… okay understatement I was rather angry, they shushed me so I didn’t wake you up and then Miss Morgan said she needed someone to sit with you and I… I volunteered. I didn’t want to be the level headed one upstairs when you needed me here.”  
Chase stood up and found the room spinning, he made a grab for Riley who put one arm round his back and held on to his waist with the other one. “You ok?” Chase clung on for dear life, “I’ve n…not eaten m…much.”   
Riley nodded understandingly, “Ok let’s get you upstairs and get some food into you.”  
Chase looked worried, “Upstairs?”  
“Yes upstairs. Look everyone’s worried about you, it’s almost closing time so Dino Bite should be quiet we’ll get you a Bronto Burger and something to drink, the others can see that you’re ok and they’ll let you just eat…” ‘Especially after I growl at them a bit.’ He finished the sentence silently.  
Chase still looked a bit uncomfortable, “Will you…?”  
“Stay with you? Every step of the way Hotshot. Just remember they’re your family, they’re furious with Kaylee and WORRIED about you.” Riley smiled as he started Chase moving towards the main base exit.  
By the time they got upstairs Chase was feeling a lot less dizzy but he didn’t feel the need to mention to Riley that he didn’t need the arm that was currently resting around his lower back. It felt nice, warm and gave him a good feeling inside. They went into the Dino Bite and Riley found a booth out of the way at the back, “Now sit there while I get you some food.” Riley raised his eyebrows and pinned Chase to the seat with the serious look in his eyes, then smiled and moved towards the kitchen.


	3. Confession Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what it says on the tin, Chase fesses up to Riley (completely) and the other rangers (mostly).

In the kitchen, the other five rangers were waiting for him anxiously, “Well?” asked Tyler, “Is he ok?”  
“He will be. He’s not eaten anything today and I think his blood sugar’s gone through the floor from the way I had to hold him up when he stood up downstairs.” Riley responded heading to grab a smoothie cup from under the counter, as he spoke he was aware of Koda moving to the grill to make up a Bronto Burger, Shelby had a salad prepared in seconds and Ivan had a portion of fries on the plate soon after. “Thanks guys. Leave him until he’s eaten, I think he’s feeling a bit embarrassed and the food should help improve his mood.”  
“Nothing to be embarrassed about.” muttered Tyler as he took the plate from Ivan and strawberry smoothie from Riley.  
“I know, but that’s how he’s feeling right now. Oh, and I don’t think that he’s cross with Kaylee either, he seems to think he’s the guilty one. If anyone can think of a way of getting him out of that mindset I’m all ears, I already tried and he changed the subject.” Riley replied as he grabbed the tray and left the kitchen heading back to the booth.  
Shelby managed to wait until he was out of earshot and predictably exploded, “He feels guilty! Oh, what is going on in that boy’s head?” She paced up and down for a moment until Tyler grabbed her hand, “Shelby, we just have to be there for him and keep telling him that he’s done nothing wrong.”  
“Well, he may have a little bit. But not as bad as her.” Shelby replied losing a bit of her heat, “I didn’t tell you everything he told me earlier, he has feelings for someone else. But the thing is he had feelings for her as well.”  
They all stared at her, “So he cared for her, but he also cared for someone else.” said Ivan slowly.  
Shelby nodded, “But he wasn’t going to do anything about the other person, he wanted to make a go of it with her.”  
“Then his behaviour was honourable.” said Ivan, “Many people have feelings for others while married, as long as they do not act upon them it should not matter.”  
They all looked at him wanting to ask about the wife they knew he must have had 800 years ago, a woman he had never mentioned or seemingly missed.   
Kendall spoke first, “Apparently it mattered to Kaylee. She didn’t want to share him even a little bit.”  
Silence reigned in the kitchen for a moment and then Tyler asked, “The other person he has feelings for??”  
Shelby shrugged, “I’m not sure…”  
“It’s not who we thought last summer is it?” he asked obliquely.  
“Who you think he love last summer?” asked Koda  
“The very person who’s made it quite clear that he’s looking after Chase today.” replied Shelby, “Riley.”  
They all looked as one over to the booth where the two boys sat, Riley gently pushing Chase to eat by feeding him fries.   
Sitting in the booth Riley and Chase were oblivious to the interest and concern that they were receiving from the other rangers, Chase had little appetite despite knowing he needed to eat and it was taking all of Riley’s persuasive abilities to get him to eat much. Eventually Chase held up his hand, “That’s it mate. I can’t manage another bite.” He had eaten less than half of his fries. Riley looked disappointed but picked up the smoothie and held it out to him, “Ok, have a drink instead. “  
Chase smiled gratefully at him, “Thanks mate.” He took the drink and slurped about half of it down, Riley grinned, “Better?” he asked.  
“Actually, yes.” Chase looked faintly surprised as he put the cup down and then picked up his untouched burger, “I think I can manage a few bites of this now, hey.” He managed almost three quarters of the burger and some more smoothie before finally calling it a day, Riley grinned at him, “Do you want to try standing up again?”   
Chase nodded and stood, “Well the room’s not spinning, which is good. I suppose I’d better go say hi to everyone.”  
Riley nodded and grabbed the tray as he stood up, “Want some company?”  
Chase nodded again before visibly bracing himself and heading towards the kitchen; the others gathered round him while Riley dumped the tray and emptied the leftovers into the bin. When he turned back round Chase was in the middle of a group hugs and silent tears were running down his face. “Ok guys, let’s go down to the base. I’ve just shut Dino Bite for the day and I think we need to all touch base before we go home for the day.” Kendall gestured towards the kitchen exit and slowly they all started moving.  
When Chase woke up the next morning he lay quietly inspecting the ceiling in his bedroom for quite some time while he thought back to the night before.  
Flashback  
Tyler asked, “Are you ok?”  
Chase had shaken his head unable, once again, to speak.  
Keeper suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, “Chase,” his deep voice resonated round the base, “You must talk about this, otherwise it will take you longer to heal and may damage your bond with your energem.” Chase looked at Keeper and after a moment nodded, cleared his throat and began to speak. “I don’t remember the whole night, I remember getting there and Kaylee had really gone all out. Apartment looked beautiful, she’d ordered food from the French place and she’d bought a really nice bottle of wine. I remember the food was really good and I remember us clearing up from dinner and sitting down to watch a movie… Spiderman I think. Then I really don’t remember much else, not the film or the conversation or anything. The next thing I remember is waking up on the sofa, covered in a blanket.”  
Shelby snorted, “Well at least she did that much.”  
Chase winced slightly and then continued, “When I realised I didn’t remember what had happened I thought I’d had too much to drink so I figured I’d better make it up to her so I got up and started making pancakes. The smell must have woken her up because she appeared in the kitchen a few minutes later, I knew something was up when she asked if I was alright. She then said that she was worried I might have a hangover and I apologised for getting drunk.”  
He had stop then because there was chorus of muttered comments along the lines of, her fault not yours, how could she let you apologise and oh my god.  
He took a couple of breaths and then continued, “I asked her if I done anything wrong, she said no but that I’d told her something that I might not have wanted her to know. She said let’s talk about it over breakfast so we went out to the other room and she told me that I’d told her that I wanted to kiss someone else.” He paused, “I don’t want to say who it is until I’ve had a proper chance to speak to hi… them.” The other rangers nodded understandingly, “I mean, they may not want to get mixed up in this mess.” He tried not to glance obviously at Riley but wasn’t sure how successful he was.  
“Anyway, I tried to explain to her that I’d never acted on the feelings and that I really cared for her but she wouldn’t listen. She was really nice about it…” he saw Shelby and Miss Morgan roll their eyes at that statement, “but it was over. I was almost begging, I’ve never met a girl I felt so strongly for before but when she asked me what would happen if the… if the other person I had feelings for told me they had feelings for me I didn’t know how to answer. Kaylee said that she didn’t want to be second choice and that… as I couldn’t stop seeing the other person for various reasons then we had no future.”  
At that point, he’d had to stop as he’d choked up and Koda came over and matter of factly hugged him tight, causing him to start crying again. A moment later and Riley appeared with a cup of water, “You’re probably still dehydrated.” was all he said.  
Tyler looked like there was something bothering him, “Do you know how you’d answer her question now?” he asked earnestly.  
Chase nodded as he sipped at the water, “Yeah, if the other person had feelings for me then I probably would have broken up with Kaylee for them. I would have beaten myself up about it and I would never have cheated on her, but I would have done that.” Again, he had tried to avoid looking at Riley, this time by staring fixedly at the floor.  
“You mustn’t blame her for breaking up with me…”  
“We don’t,” Ivan said quickly, “we are angry with her though for getting you drunk and putting you in such a vulnerable position.”  
Chase looked utterly confused, “What? What do you mean?”  
Ivan continued gently but firmly, “You told Shelby that Kaylee deliberately got you drunk before she asked you.” he moved closer to Chase and put his hand on his shoulder, “Do you not see? She violated your trust, she deliberately put you in a situation where you could not defend yourself. What if Sledge had attacked her apartment while you were drunk?”  
Chase went pale, “Oh god, oh god.” He covered his face with one hand, “I hadn’t even thought about that.”  
Miss Morgan spoke then, “Chase, then think about it this way. What would you say or do if someone got me or Shelby deliberately drunk?”  
Chase found himself suddenly getting really angry, “Yeah, but that’s…”  
“Wrong?” Miss Morgan asked, “Yes because we would be vulnerable. Neither Shelby or I are generally vulnerable not just because we are rangers but because it’s not who we are. Just as it’s not who you are, but last night you were vulnerable and Kaylee made you that way deliberately. All because she wanted to know if her guess was right, it doesn’t matter that it was it matters that she deliberately made you vulnerable.”  
He broke down then, sobbing partly in anger and partly in sorrow that Kaylee wasn’t the girl he’d thought she was.  
Flashback ends  
Riley and Tyler had taken him home at that point and helped him to bed, which was why he was now staring at the ceiling re-living the conversation. He suddenly realised that he needed a shower so heaved himself out of bed and headed for the bathroom, he’d been in the shower for about 2 mins when the bathroom door opened and Riley’s voice said, “There’s a glass of juice out here for you.” Chase stammered his thanks and finished his shower off quickly, when he got out of the shower Riley had disappeared and there was a glass of orange juice sitting on the back of the sink. Chase dried off and took a quick swig of the orange juice, wondering as he did so whether Riley had been there all night or if he’d come back that morning and was Tyler there too?  
He headed back to his bedroom and pulled on the first clean clothes he saw, with the fact he always wanted to wear black these days it never took long to get dressed and then wandered out into the living area to find Riley.  
“Hey.” Riley was stood in the kitchen that made up part of the open plan living area busily frying eggs, “Do you want these sunny side up?”  
Chase blinked at the odd question, “Do you mean runny?”  
“The yolks’ll be soft, yeah.” Riley grinned at him, “speaking English again?” he laughed.  
“Yeah, sunny side up would be fine.” Chase smiled, “Have you eaten?”  
“Yeah, about two hours ago. I can’t believe how much you can sleep!” Riley dished up the eggs on to a plate complete with bread and butter and handed it to him.  
Chase took the plate and wandered over to the couch, “Have you been here all night?”  
“Yeah, me and Tyler agreed someone should stay with you and I volunteered… again. He didn’t seem very surprised.” Riley sounded amused as he cleaned up the little mess he’d made cooking breakfast.  
“Where did you sleep?”  
“On the couch. It’s pretty comfortable actually, I can sleep pretty much anywhere.” he laughed, “I’ve slept in a barn before now, waiting for a sow to farrow.”  
“Farrow?”   
“Have babies.” Riley clarified.  
“Oh, right.” Chase started eating, suddenly aware that he was ravenous, Riley came over and sat on the easy chair to the right of him drinking a cup of coffee.  
“We need to… talk.” Riley looked at Chase over the top of his coffee cup and took another swig.  
“Yeah.” Chase swallowed round the sudden lump in his throat and realised that he’d finished the eggs.   
Riley finished off his coffee and lent forward earnestly, “You know, I’ve always been a logical person, but I find it really difficult to be logical about you… On one hand, I want to scream for joy that we’re finally being honest with each other and then on the other I wanna kick your butt for not talking to me in the first place and getting yourself in a mess with Kaylee.”  
Chase eyed him nervously, “You didn’t talk to me.”  
“I tried. But you had your earbuds in and didn’t hear me.”   
“What? When?”  
“That day Cavity attacked, down at the track I apologised to you and dropped some hints that I’m gay and then it turned out that you didn’t hear a word.” Riley smiled ruefully at the memory.  
“I’m not gay.” Chase said quietly, “It’s just you, you’re the only bloke I’ve ever fancied.”  
“Fancied means ‘attracted to’ right?” Chase nodded and Riley said, “Just checking. You need to be aware that everyone else is going to think you are gay or at least bi even if it turns out that you are never attracted to another man…” he paused, “that is if we get into a relationship.”  
Chase nodded, “I think that was one of the reasons I didn’t talk to you about this before, I was having a hard time adjusting to thinking of myself as bi. I knew I wasn’t gay because I still fancied girls, but I kept thinking and dreaming about kissing you. Then there you were getting cross with me because we did things so differently and then I was getting cross because I just wanted you to like me and I thought you didn’t. Then everything came to a head with Cavity and then Ivan turned up, then Prince Phillip and there just didn’t seem to be any time to discuss personal stuff. Then suddenly I was going home and without you right in front of me I was able to convince myself that all my feelings were imaginary and I started chasing girls again.”  
“And then Ice Age happened.” Riley completed the story, or so he thought.  
“No. I’d be lying if I said that was the case, I was… I had several… err dreams about you while I was home. I was just trying to ignore them.” Chase was now the colour of beetroot.  
Riley was lost for words, he never thought that Chase would tell him something that personal. “Wow.” was pretty much all he could say to that revelation. He sat staring at the coffee table with its load of empty coffee cup and dirty plate, then looked up at Chase. “Um” he said intelligently.  
“We got back, Heckle was throwing everything at us and when he slowed down I met Kaylee. I felt so strongly towards her that I thought I would forget about my feelings for you, and there were moments that it worked.” Chase closed his eyes, his face a mask of guilt, “I really shouldn’t have gone out with her, it wasn’t fair.”  
Riley leaned over and patted his arm, “We all do things we shouldn’t and you had every reason to think it would work. I just wish you’d said something to someone, I’m actually a bit surprised that Keeper didn’t notice what we were both feeling.”  
Chase grinned, “He is good at picking up on feelings, almost Jedi-like. I suppose our feelings weren’t impacting on our bonds with our energems.”  
“I’m not convinced of that.” Riley replied.  
“What do you mean?” asked Chase.  
“Look at my top.” said Riley, gesturing to his chest. Chase looked and at first just saw green as usual, Riley smiled and pointed to his collar, then Chase spotted the black lines around the material; lines that were repeated round the arms and the bottom edge. Riley grinned as he saw comprehension dawn in Chase’s eyes, “I’ve been wearing a little bit of black for months, I’m not sure when it started but I know it was before you went back to New Zealand. I figured it was because my feelings for you were… are pretty strong.”  
“Why am I not wearing bits of green?” asked Chase.  
Riley shrugged, “Maybe because you were fighting your feelings, or because you had feelings for me and Kaylee.”  
Chase shook his head, “I suppose it’s not really important. Where do we go now?”  
Riley leaned back in his seat for moment and then lent forward again, “That’s sort of up to you Chase, I want to be with you in all senses of the word. If you feel it’s too quick after your break up then I’ll respect that, if you’re still feeling weirded out over the whole liking a guy thing then I’ll respect that too.”  
Chase looked at him silently for longer than was really comfortable, Riley felt compelled to speak again, “Of course we could just make out right here, right now. I’d respect that as well.” he grinned and winked, hoping that Chase wouldn’t freak out and would take it as a joke. Instead he was rather surprised when Chase stood up and walked over to him, he stood in front of him looking down at Riley where he sat and then took hold of his hand to pull him up. Chase smiled his cockiest smile as his fingers tangled in Riley’s hair and he kissed him, at first tentatively then when Riley responded more firmly. The kiss ended rather abruptly when Chase was taken by surprise by Riley’s cool hand stroking his back under his t-shirt, Chase gasped and jumped. “Oh god, that…” Riley removed his hand immediately, “Are you ok?”   
“Yeah, you just took me by surprise is all. Sorry.” Chase had a bit of a dopey grin on his face as he moved forward and started kissing Riley again, this time taking the initiative and encouraging Riley to put his hand back under his shirt. Riley was only too happy to oblige; stroking the smooth skin and slowly working round to the front and stroking Chase’s nipples gently. “Ohhh.” Chase groaned as Riley tweaked his left nipple and then moved over to the right giving it similar attention.  
Riley then moved down and used both hands to grab the bottom of Chase’s t-shirt and pulled it quickly off over his head. Chase mimicked him and suddenly they were both topless, they started kissing once again this time hands roaming freely over each other. A moment later and Chase was digging down into the back of Riley’s pants… at that moment their dino coms went off loudly startling them both. They pulled apart and went to grab them, before Riley said, “T-shirts, unless we want them knowing right now.”  
Chase nodded and they pulled on their t-shirts before Riley answered his dino com, “Yeah guys?”  
“Alien bio signs just north of the city.” Kendall’s face appeared, “I’m sending you coordinates, are you with Chase?”  
“I’m here.” responded Chase, “We’re on our way.”  
They jumped up and ran out of the apartment, heading for yet another fight.


End file.
